below: Just a part of the van. If you’ve been to Kensington you may have seen this van – it’s totally covered with stickers.

below: Churro chairs

below: Morning coffee. Saturday mornings in Kensington begin quietly.

below: Faded and forgotten

below: These poser bunnies are a recent addition to the street art in Kensington

below: Mona Lisa and her fruit basket still look out over Kensington Ave. She still hasn’t eaten that banana. The black and white part of this now iconic mural (with the banana) was painted more than 30 years ago. The rest of the fruit was added after.

below: Looking a little frayed around the edges, like some of us at the end of the hot summer!

below: Not long ago there was only Mary in this window. Jesus is now keeping her company.

Graffiti Alley keeps drawing me back to see if there are any changes. What is new and what has disappeared. To see who is hanging out in the lane today and have a silent chuckle or two at the tourists.

below: Sunny days in Graffiti Alley

below: Let’s Eat Sandwiches Together Forever, by elicser, seems to have been refreshed recently.

below: He’s pointing to the sky because he’s giving us a detailed weather forecast.

below: The last time that I walked down Graffiti Alley, elicser was in the midst of painting this door.

below: Hello!

below: Montreal and Toronto and the writing in between.

below: A lovebot of a different sort. Almost unrecognizable except for that heart. Only lovebot has a heart like that.

below: A large carp painted by Nick Sweetman. A fish out of water.

below: Broken window

below: Pink roses and words of love and encouragement (and a little bit of flattery). The future is bright and do more of what makes you happy.

below: A new poser bunny at Portland Place

below: Toronto Blue Jays vs. stencils are wack

below: Walking past the praying mantis which is memorial to Jesse.

below: Rat and a spray paint can can’t keep the eyes in their heads.

below: Unfortunately, part of the uber5000 wintertime Toronto mural has been tagged over.

below: Honk! honk! An uber5000 yellow bunny offers a donut

below: Starbursts (or flowers, or just interesting shapes) in pink and yellow

below: The elephant isn’t in the room, it hasn’t made it down the stairs yet.

below: A collaboration between immortalwales and kyleghostkeeper. Both are tattoo artists and they both have instagram accounts if you are interested in seeing their work.

Recently I saw a blogTO article about “A massive Overwatch mural” that was being painted on King Street West. I was curious so off I went to check it out.

below: Here is the mural. Yes it’s big, but massive no. When I think massive I think Phlegm’s mural at Yonge and St. Clair, or Adrian Hayles music murals near Yonge and College. And whoa, what’s that in the bottom right corner? This is an ad for a video game and this is a picture of Karya, one of the characters. Under the heading of ‘you never know where things are going to lead’ – Overwatch is a multi-player team game where competitions are held and prizes won. There is an Overwatch World Cup which was won by South Korea in both 2016 and 2017. This year there was a Canadian team and they came second. Yeah Canada!

below: Around the corner is another mural. This one is painted onto the side of an old brick building by Omen514. As you can see, it is part of the most recent ad campaign by Sick Kids Hospital to raise 1.3 billion dollars to rebuild the hospital starting with the building at Elm and Elizabeth streets. The black and white of the mural matches the black and white of the video advertising. Omen514 had help from Nick Sweetman, Earth Crusher, Poser, and Five S, all of whom are street artists as well.

below: … And another mural in the same neighbourhood. This one is on the side of the Kiin restaurant (Thai) and as you can see, the name of the restaurant is in the mural. Again, street art but not street art. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s much more appealing than a blank grey wall.

below: Businesses, such as Champs Food Supplies pictured here, have been using murals to draw attention to themselves for a long time.

below: It is still standing even as it’s being dwarfed by the condo developments around it.

below: And even farther back in time – This is the MacLean building that was built in 1914 (designed by George Wallace Gouinlock). It is at 345 Adelaide St. West, and the sign is on the east side of building. Hugh C. MacLean publications was founded in 1909 by Hugh Cameron MacLean. It published mostly trade journals such as ‘Footwear in Canada’. The company was bought by the Southam family and become Southam-Macleans… and then finally Southam Business Publications in 1964. As it turns out, there were two MacLeans brothers in the publishing business, Hugh and brother John Bayne MacLean who founded the MacLean publishing company that would eventually become MacLean Hunter – the home of MacLeans magazine before it was swallowed up by Rogers Media.

below: This ghost sign is actually a double. The words ‘head office’ can be seen by the word MacLean and there is a box to the left of that. The number 33 is on the box and obviously means something. I haven’t been able to decipher the rest of the sign.

And then there is street art that is just that, decorations on a wall.

After I took the above photos and before I had finished writing this blog post, I came across another Sick Kids fundraising murals by the same artists as the one above.

below: Looking north up Broadview at Thompson street, just north of Queen.

below: The central portion of the mural.

below: In the mural the kids are collecting pieces of lumber, pipes, and concrete blocks. This is similar to the ad where kids are “running through city streets and alleyways, gathering building materials and running to an empty piece of land ready for construction.” (source)

Once again, the last Sunday of the month was Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market. There was a large turnout this past weekend! Lots of people, music, food, sunshine, and good times.

below: Dancing in the steet

below: A song, a mandolin, and a Polish Boy Scout belt buckle?

below: She is showing lots of courage!

below: A quiet corner for a good book

below: Numbers on the alley by #whatsvictorupto

below: Drinks – the changing nature of Kensington market is reflected in the food and drink that is available. There is now a large South American influence in the area so products like Inca Cola and Chicha can be bought.

below: A poser bunny still lurks in an alley. Everything around him as changed be he remains.

below: Does anyone have an extra jacket they could lend her? Frostbite isn’t fun.

below: It’s Canadian patio weather so it can’t be that cold. Right?

below: Loose bricks become loose teeth. Some guy is trying to hide under the stairs.

below: Fathom graffiti on the foundations of an old house that has been torn down.
Hot and cold perhaps?

below: Filet of sole

below: Cool camel with his headless (mindless!?) glittery arm candy.

below: Persian stews and a pink octopus…. what’s in a Persian stew? If beef stew is beef and rabbit stew is rabbit…. well, I’ll assume that Persian stew isn’t Persians just like Irish stew isn’t Irishes.
I also liked the way that the street art on the open gate merged with the painting on the wall behind.

below: Still meditating with blinking – not distracted by the Christmas balls in front of her face.

below: I thought that this was a window ornament, like the kid you see as a door knocker. But when I zoomed in more closely, I found that is was an old curling trophy!

below: A little sparrow doing some people watching, its feathers all puffed up to keep warm.

below: A woman and a rose in black and white, by bubz

below: Outdoor office. I told you we Canadians were a hardy bunch.

below: Druid and a Christmas tree.

below: Lovebot, grominator, and a poser bunny all together by the rooftops.

below: A number of these little paste-ups (the guy in the yellow frame) by t-bonez have sprung up around downtown. This one is on Augusta.

below: Taking a snowy walk in the neighbourhood that is protected by Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum from the 3 Ninjas movies.

below: Everyone likes Christmas! Even a stormtrooper….

below: More rooftop graffiti. This time, with new condo development behind. The old brick buildings with glass monsters popping up behind them – a very familiar site these days.

below: In keeping with the sort of PG rating of this blog, I’ll show this poster as the background!

below: The end, no exit. I’ll go no further, except…..

to say have a happy New Year and I hope that 2017 is filled with lots of opportunities to walk and explore!

“The residents whose properties border on the lane have provided the following background information on the proposed name:”

” …throughout each year, the Galle family, who’ve lived at 441Montrose (the east side) since 1972, includes many Montrose residents in their annual celebration of making the “sugo” or tomato sauce, the roasted peppers and peperonata party, and the spirited soppressata contest, which they bring from their home country of Italy. Everyone learns the old world techniques and celebrates their new life in our Canadian context.

To commemorate how our lives have been enriched by the Galles welcoming and generous spirits, and in keeping with the traditions they’ve taught us and that we’ve now made our own, we propose the lane be named “Peperonata Lane” as a way of celebrating their unsung contribution to our neighbourhood”.

The latest StreetARToronto (StART) summer project has just wrapped up. Seven new murals around Broadview and Gerrard East, each one depicting a famous landmark, make up this project which is now called ‘Around the World in East Chinatown’. Although it was largely funded and organized by StART, other partners include the Toronto Parking Authority, 55 Division police, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (East Toronto).

A crew of more than 20 artists headed by Mike Kennedy worked for about 2 weeks to complete the murals. Each mural includes the ‘signature’ of the artists. I am not very good are deciphering (or remembering) the graffiti writing but I’ve had some help identifying the artists.

below: Christ the Redeemer now watches over Gerrard East. Painted by bacon. This is the statue built high on a hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro. If you watched any coverage of this summer’s Olympics you probably saw this statue from every possible angle. The statue was designed by a Frenchman, Paul Landowski and built by a Brazilian engineer, Heitor da Silva Costa, between 1922 and 1931. Made of soapstone and reinforced concrete the statue stands 30m tall and has an arm span of 28m. He stands on an 8m high pedestal.

below: Putting the finishing touches on The Great Wall of China, a collaborative effort by Nick Sweetman, Wuns, Rons, Tens, Braes and Wales. The actual wall was built in sections over many centuries and includes walls, trenches and natural elements such as hills and rivers. Parts of the wall are in better repair than others – around Beijing where more tourists visit, the wall has been fixed up and is well maintained. Measurement of the wall varies but if all the branches of the wall are taken into consideration, the total length is about 21,000 km.

below: A hummingbird flies over Machu Picchu in the next mural. Machu Picchu was built by the Incas in the 15th century in what is now Peru. It is on a mountain ridge, 2430m above sea level.

below: In the same parking lot as Machu Picchu but on the other side, is a very large mural centered around an image of the Taj Mahal. Painted by Sight, Hone, Water, Equal and Tenser.

below: Commissioned in 1632 by the Mogul Emperor, Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal. She was born Arjumand Banu Begum, a daughter of Persian nobility in Agra India. In 1613, when she was 19, she married Prince Khurram (later he became Shah Jahan) as his 3rd or 4th wife. She died in June of 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child. If my math is correct, that’s 14 children in 18 years. After the Shah died in 1666, he was buried here too. Anyhow, many centuries later, the Taj Mahal is still standing in Agra India and it is visited by millions every year.

below: Teeny tiny people dwarfed by the doors of Petra, Jordan. Petra is an ancient city with immense buildings cut out of the sandstone cliffs and hills. It was once a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataean empire between 400 B.C. and A.D. 106 when it was called Raqmu. The Nabateans were a nomadic Arab tribe. Their empire came to an end when they were conquered by the Romans and their land annexed into the Roman Empire.

below: The whole Petra mural on the walls of an alley tucked in between the Ka Ka Lucky Seafood BBQ Restaurant and Paradise Spa on Broadview Avenue. This mural was painted by Hemps.

below: The Roman Coliseum (Rome) is now on the corner of Broadview and Gerrard. This is half of the mural and when the photo was taken it was incomplete. It is now finished – a second visit for a photo is in my future! The Coliseum (or Colosseum) is in Rome and it was built by 80 A.D, just before the Roman Empire swallowed up the Nabateans. It was built as an amphitheatre and could hold at least 50,000 spectators – people who came to watch gladiator fights, enactments of classical dramas, or other forms of entertainment.

below: The right hand side of the mural with the graffiti writing signature of the artist. If I could only easily photoshop out that garbage bin. Mural painted by Sewp, Poser and Frens.

below: Chichen Itza ruins in Yucatan Mexico and a jaguar on the side of the Sunshine Hair Studio, partially obscured by greenery. Painted by Cruz, Rons, Sadar and Rcade. Chichen Itza was the largest Mayan city covering about 5 square km. It flourished between 900 and 1050. The mural depicts El Castillo, or the Temple of Kukulcan, the building at the center of Chichen Itza that dominates the site.

And that concludes the seven new murals – Christ the Redeemer statue, The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Petra, the Roman Coliseum, and Chichen Itza.

This mural project follows the success of last year’s Project Picasso in the same area. Graffiti from some of the lanes was cleaned up and a Chinese themed mural was painted on the brick wall at the back of the parking lot on Gerrard Street East, just west of Broadview Avenue. Riverdale Collegiate students helped with the graffiti clean up and contributed ideas for the mural.